Random Discussion

While watching the C-SPAN interview of author Seth Lerer a few months ago, I learned that the Old English word “ye” is actually pronounced “thee.” According to Lerer, “thee” was originally spelled with a letter that signified the “th” sound. Later, that letter was replaced with a letter that looks like “a ‘y’ with a hat” over it. Eventually, the word in question was spelled with a regular letter y. And as time passed, folks forgot about the true pronunciation of “ye.” And now folks pronounce it with a “y” sound instead of the correct “th” sound. Now that's what I call the biggest historical surpise I've heard since I learned that pirates never produced treasure maps!